Like so many others, Elmore Leonard, god bless him, praised writers for their “perseverance to just sit there alone and grind it out.” Of course writers might think he was only referring to writing, especially when coupled with his memetic 10th rule: “if it looks like writing, re-write it.” Taking this credo too literally is certain to drive writers even further into the ivory tower of the introvert. Justified, indeed.

Like so many others, Elmore Leonard, god bless him, praised
writers for their “perseverance to just sit there alone and grind it out.” Of course writers might think he was only
referring to writing, especially when coupled with his memetic 10th rule: “if
it looks like writing, re-write it.” Taking this credo too literally is certain
to drive writers even further into the ivory tower of the introvert. Justified,
indeed.

Elmore Leonard’s fans don’t have to have read his work
extensively or at all, to uh, “know” him. He presents himself as a
look-us-in-the-eye type, not some remote artist alone in a tower being
celebrated from afar. In other words, Leonard exists to us as a man, not solely as a
writer. His appeal extends beyond what’s on the page -- the other half of the
career equation. Even an opposite icon like J.D. Salinger’s controlled
seclusion and rejection of immortal author conventions are just as famous as
the characters he created. We know what these writers look like. We can even
imagine what their opinions on various topics might be. Even though they are no
longer alive and writing, they still speak through the media in identities
separate and apart from their work.

I was recently asked about the difference between a
screenwriter’s identity and a screenwriter’s voice. Simply put, in a screenplay
it’s the “voice” collected into pages that’s put up for sale. If the writer’s
persona has been left behind embedded in the pages, versus used portably as a
sustainable tool the writer can re-use, then the writer has to start from
scratch with every screenplay to gain back any kind of self referral as an
artist. Imagine if the DIY self-published authors of today followed the
technique traditionally used by screenwriters to simply type their name under
the title as reference to authorship with no personal outreach to their
readers.

Instead it’s typical for DIYs to directly engage with their
readers, communicating whistle-stop style to gain converts. Tweets become
campaign waves; blog tours, virtual handshaking -- which serve before or after
any work is read to exponentially expand the writer’s off-page identity. DIY scribes
understand that any discriminating buyer for their work will, without question,
consult a website algorithm then mentally measure the writer’s metadata before
making a purchase. In a contemporary Hollywood universe, any kind of screenplay
buyer does the same.

Consider the more familiar difference in how a film director
develops identity in a traditional film business scenario. There’s discoverable
emphasis on the director’s background and training with critical analysis of
themes associated with that director’s work. There’s an easy dialogue flow
about where and how that director grew up; which filmmakers influenced them;
who their mentors were. There‘s no expectation that a page they wrote or even
piece of film they directed could solely speak for them by proxy. Directors
aren’t conflicted about their human persona being a key component to their
professional role. When they aren’t directing they’re visibly participating in
far ranging community outreach to exercise their essential uniqueness and creative
values.

If screenwriters demand exclusive evaluative focus on the
pages they “just sit there and grind out” without including interactive public
behavior to identify themselves as unique storytelling masters the way Elmore
Leonard and some other writers do, the screenwriter’s identity becomes
dependent on how that material fares in a finite Hollywood marketplace. In this
traditional film business scenario the emphasis on material necessarily becomes
about cost: the cost for the rights, cost of re-writing and cost of producing
it. The page is what has value, not the man or woman who wrote it, who are
bound to become less important. The ensuing professional relationship
composition is calculated to take power away from the screenwriter.

Some folks might be waiting for the WGA to conduct a blind
study to see if kick-ass public identity development works. It might be simpler
and faster to take a look at Diablo Cody’s career or Tony Kushner’s.

Ms. Cody created a public persona different from the one she
grew up with that she believed was more authentic. Working at an office, she
started stripping while also blogging about it. Note that she didn’t blog in
any way about a screenwriting career. She showed up online as herself and
attracted the attention of an alert film producer, who encouraged her as a
writer. Activist Tony Kushner also shows up consistently as himself. His
opinion is often sought about topics of concern, not just Hollywood-centric
ones. We know about these artists’ human personas, which not
only influences their writing, but attracts the notice of their worlds at
large, thus creating anticipation of their work.